Osmosian Torture Camp
by Skylark Evanson
Summary: Argit had brought him in on a deal so he could pay him back. Too bad Kevin had no idea what he had agreed to.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: this just came to me. I don't know why, but it did… it'll just be a short story. Like four chapters.**

**Disclaimer: You'll know what I own.**

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**_Osmosian Torture Camp_**

Argit pushed the cast iron doors open, putting all his weight into it. "Here's the place, Kev," said the black and dark gray rat-like alien. "It's the biggest gold mine anyone could ever imagine."

Kevin's obsidian eyes darted around as he followed his old ally into the massive warehouse's room. What... the heck... was this?

People were hanging from the walls, chained there from their wrists like prisoners, thrashing against the restraints. Some were as limp as rag dolls. One or two were screaming out for help. Others cried. A lot of them were sobbing uncontrollably. Many were deathly pale, most likely dead.

"It's a camp where we can get them to absorb rocks." Argit's eyes glowed maliciously. He was evil at the core, through and through. "Like you can, but more." He stared at piles and crates and mountains of crystals and riches that had piles up in one corner that Kevin could only assume had been harvested from these people. People like him. Osmosians. "And I mine it off of them. Painlessly, of course."

The dark teen knew it wasn't painless. He'd been through it. It was anything but painless. "This is crazy, not to mention totally illegal to a whole new level for you, Argit. And, again, not to mention that it's just totally _wrong_."

"I owe you a lot of cash, Kevin. This is the only way I could find to make up for all that debt." Argit sharply elbowed Kevin's ribcage, a sinister smile playing across his lips. "Don't worry."

Kevin wasn't worried about Argit. He was concerned about the humane side of this. It clearly wasn't legal and he wasn't going to get in on this one. He had morals now. He had a reason to feel guilty for hurting people. Doing illegal things was wrong, but doing it to his own people was just _disgusting_. "No. I won't. My pay isn't worth this."

"Kev, it's an Osmosian Torture Camp. Created and run by yours truly. Now just trust me, will you?" Argit walked further forward, touching some of the many riches such as gold and silver and massive amounts of taedenite with his paw-like hands. "I'm going to pay you back, one way or another, whether you like it or not."

Some eyes lifted at the sound of a new voice as they had finally heard the sound of Kevin. The people hanging from the wall cried out like injured puppies at the sight of a new face, the sight of a possible savior. Someone who could help.

Kevin cringed at the word Osmosian. Now that he knew what he was, Kevin was proud of it. He wasn't about to announce to Argit what alien race he really was. Not after seeing this and hearing the words that Argit was saying. "You can't run a torture camp." Kevin's jaw clenched as he tried to muster up the words to stop his ex-partner's criminal behavior in a nicer way. "I won't let you."

"You and what army, Kev?"

"They're called the Plumbers," he said confidently. Kevin's dark eyes skirted around the room, taking in every detail. The moaning people. The beings that were going to die. They didn't deserve this. "You aren't going to hurt these innocent people."

They were thin and scrawny aliens. They looked so innocent and pitiful, stuck hanging on the cold stone walls. And whimpers of pain came from them, voices totally shot so that Kevin could hardly think of them as voices at all.

Argit's rat tail flicked back and forth in annoyance, sweeping up dust off the cold concrete floors. "I can hurt as many innocent people as I want. They had a good run."

Kevin glared at his old partner. "So they all had a good run? Even the young children you got hanging over there?" he flicked a finger up towards the second level of he building where all the smaller children were hanging. They were looking malnourished and sickly like skeletons with a thin skin draped over them. "They're going to die, Argit."

"So?" His arms had folded across his chest. "This is _my_ business, Kev. You have no say in it. I'm using this to pay _you_ off."

Kevin turned, sickened. He couldn't take on Argit. At least not now. But he wasn't going to let all these poor people be tortured and starve to death. He was going to let them free as soon as he got the chance. And it'd come soon enough.

The dark teen left the building with Argit yelling after him, "You'll be back to collect the pay, Kevin!"

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**A/N: send in your thoughts with a review!**

**~Sky**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: another chapter. Okay, just so you know: I remembered a little earlier that this was actually a dream I had. It took a while for me to remember parts of it, but I got it now. It'll have like 4 chapters…**

**Disclaimer: own none of the characters that are Man of Action's. if you're reading this, you know who those characters are.**

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This was totally illegal by any standards. Even someone like him knew it was wrong to hold people against their will just for money. They all had scars of whippings and the slices of torture. Scared, beady, starving eyes. Thin beyond comparison. He knew the feeling. Living on the cold streets of New York was like a torture camp. Except you were all alone.

Kevin looked into this one window that he crouched outside. The light filtered through the dark tinted panes of icy and frosted broken glass. It was like a flashlight beacon through the darkness of night with shadows dancing across it.

He held his breath. This was going to suck if it went down the wrong way for him. And in this case, it was probably going to go down real bad. Especially if Argit figured out he was the same as all those other people he was holding in his special torture camp for Osmosians. Argit would never find out his race.

The lights died, killed the clicking of a switch that Kevin heard through the near silence. The only other sounds were moans of pain and the quiet whimpers as darkness rolled through the warehouse where his own kin was being held.

This was crazy. Who would ever do something so inhumane?

Right. Argit.

He waited. One minute passed. Kevin exhaled softly, hoping no one could hear the thundering of his heart in his chest. It was getting hard to keep quiet. He wanted to get up and get through the window silently and help his people. But he couldn't. He had to wait until Argit was totally gone.

Ten minutes passed. He watched the sparkle of the sky's moon and stars. It was a nice night despite all the lives being wasted in the hellhole just on the other side of this wall. It was warm, not quite muggy, and a cool breeze floated through the air like a song on the wind.

He hadn't heard his rat friend leave, but he hadn't heard him inside. The risk was now or never. Kevin finally stood, really hoping Argit wasn't around. His legs were sore, muscles tight. The darkness consumed him like a piece of easy prey.

Trying not to make a sound, Kevin jimmied open the window. The silence remained. Being quiet had been another mastered skill by the streets of New York. He respected the city that had hardened him to a tough as rock kind of person.

Window sliding open, Kevin worked to get his broad shoulders through. It was hard, but he managed. From there, he slid in, quiet as a snake.

Pressing himself against the wall, he reached up with one hand and slowly slid the window closed, fingers brushing against the icy panes and the rotting wood sill of it. "Stay quiet," he murmured into the darkness, voice carrying through the barracks of the warehouse's high ceilings as he got to his feet slowly and quietly. "I'm here to get you out, so shut up, please."

He had never really thought that telling them that would send a few of them into a shrieking uproar.

"Please shut up," hissed Kevin a bit louder, really hoping that they'd all shut up before someone woke up Argit if he were still hanging around. If he was still hanging around, Kevin was sure to be caught.

No one even bothered to hush up only a little. They all screamed a little louder as some more of them were aroused by the yells and cries of a savior.

Not thinking a second time, Kevin leapt up and threw himself behind crates that were stacked up in one corner, landing in one with a hard _crash!_ sound. He looked over the top of it, only to be pulled back down by the hem of his shirt with a sharp tug. He landed back inside, a hand over his mouth and being held against his will.

"You will be quiet or I will kill you," came an almost feral snarl. Something sharp pressed against Kevin's exposed throat as a tug on his long ebony hair yanked his head backwards.

_This turned out well, now didn't it? _thought Kevin, staring into the faint light as the lid was pulled over the top of the crate. He was submerged in total darkness.

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**A/N: Kevin takes 'look before you leap' to a whole new meaning. Leave a review if you love me!**

**~Sky**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I feel so slow…**

**Disclaimer: don't own anything.**

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Kevin blinked a couple of times. This couldn't be happening. He wasn't in a box. He wasn't being held against his will. There was no way that was the smell of a stainless steel knife pressed against his neck, the cool blade threatening to shear his skin.

"Who are you, why are you here, did you do this to my people?" came the questions in one long sentence, not even a pause between each word. A girl's voice. A confident and strong girl. One not afraid to take charge.

At his pause, the blade touched his skin a bit harder. "Tell me," came the vicious hiss again.

"Kevin Ethan Levin, seventeen years old, live in Bellwood. I'm here to free my people and why would I free them if I was the one who did this?" he replied, keeping his manner cool in even this horrible situation. The darkness was closing in on him. But his vision was slowly adjusting and he could see the fine edges of the box he had leapt into and he could make out the shadows of whatever lined the bottom of the box. "And _you_ are?"

"An Osmosian. That's all you need to know." Her fingers released his ebony locks and his head whipped forward, nearly slamming against the box's wood sides. The knife pulled away from his throat, slowly and deliberately. "Now what compelled you to jump into a box?"

He shrugged, hoping the girl could see it. "People started yelling and getting louder. If Argit came, I'd be caught. And when I'm trying to help, I wouldn't want to get caught." Kevin saw faint moonlight filtering in through tiny cracks in the wood. "Now why are _you_ in this box?"

"Trying to escape. To get help." He saw her face turn away from him, her distinctive features being washed in moonlight. Almost bleached white hair, but with a perfect blondish tint to it with the glowing of the moon's waning pale light. Slightly rounded cheeks and a soft complexion. Piercing golden yellow eyes that were almost shaded with bright bronze around the edges. She put on a tough face once more. "This box is shipped off in the morning to the outskirts of California. It's a long ride and we're all trying to get out of here as soon as we can. Before we end up dead."

Kevin sighed and leaned back against the box's side. "I can help you out with this."

"Why are you helping anyways?" she growled fiercely in a low voice. "This isn't your problem and you don't belong here. You're an outsider."

"I'm an Osmosian. Just like you. Don't start questioning me when you've already got my name. I should be questioning you." He looked at her, trying to study her in the darkness. "You're Princess Britania," Kevin noted. "Regal features, posture's as close to perfect as Hell is to the center of the earth and you need to help these people because it's your job, not because you want to." He smirked and leaned a little closer to her. "But I _want_ to."

She stared at him, almost awestruck. "You can't accuse me of-"

"I read body language a little too often. You're not too hard." He started to get up, knowing that the victims had hushed up and Argit had never come around so he was safe once again. "And I can help more than you could imagine." He vaulted over the edge of the box, swinging his feet over the edge in one swift motion and landing on the ground as silent as a cat.

"How?" asked Britania, also getting up and staring at him before also vaulting over the edge of the box. She landed softly and silently on the cold stone floor.

He bent down and checked the box's shipping label. "Redirect this to my garage and I could set up Plumber connections to get you all sent back home in a matter of minutes. The shipping to my place would only take about half a day or more and these boxes are huge. Fits a bunch of people." Kevin got back to his feet, rising above her.

"You have Plumber connections?" she scoffed, a bit shocked by this scraggly little street scum knowing someone in a high rank such as the Plumbers.

"I am one." He pulled out his badge, watching it flash lightly in the dying light of the moon. Kevin saw her face light up in a stunned and surprised expression. "The rest of my team is hanging around back in Bellwood. They can help me take care of your people. No questions asked on how you got here or what was going on." He held up his hands. "And you can trust me. I know the guy who runs this torture camp because he tried to get me in on it."

Britania stared at him, smiling. "You backed out."

"I knew what was going on. I wouldn't watch my people die like this. No matter what." Kevin pulled out a pen from his pocket and started to sketch in the address of his garage on the label of the box. "You good with me helping?"

"No problem with it," she said, staring around at the people hanging in chains from the walls. "The sooner someone gets them out of here the better. Even if it's not me."

He chuckled under his breath. "Sorry for stealing your thunder, princess."

"Just Brittany," she corrected. The girl watched as some of her people twitched in their sleep. A few moaned in pain. Many were weeping in their sleep. How could this have happened? So quickly, so simply, like it was the easiest thing in the world. How had almost an entire world been taken like this? Into a camp. Into a torture chamber. To be mined like rocks in a excavation pit. To be treated unlike beings but as if they were animals.

"Okay, Just Brittany." Kevin looked to her and snickered under his breath before finishing off the address and rising to his feet again. "Now this should work. Argit told me he's shipping off the rocks in these things to be sold so that he can pay me off and all that. And with him selling rocks and paying me off, he won't notice that the addresses have been changed on every single one of these."

"But he will notice people disappearing." Britania stared at him for a few moments. "What are you planning to do about that?"

"Get them all strong enough to fight and then storm the place with an army of Osmosians. Get out the weakest people and leave the strongest here for as long as possible so that they're still here to break away."

"But won't they just get weaker?"

"Who do we want to save? Those on the brink of death or those who will fight to the death?" countered Kevin, eyeing her carefully. "You may be used to armies, but I'm more used to strategies." He looked around, seeing all the people just like him being mined for their powers. This wasn't fair. This wasn't close to fair. He'd rather be chained to that wall and hanging there than on the outside looking in, close to useless with helping them.

Britania was silent now, arms folded across her chest. Kevin was right. She wasn't about to argue with him now. "Fine."

Kevin reached towards the wall and let his powers drink in the touch of the cold gray stone. The armor stretched across his body, defining the muscles under his shirt and bringing him new strength. "Help me out." He went to the closest walls and started pulling people from the wall, ripping the chains that hung them there. They each fell to the ground, crumpling at the touch of solid ground with sobs and moans and groans and painful tears running from their eyes. He ushered them towards Brittany who helped them into the boxes, her body covered in a thin layer of the box's wood so that she could lift the weakest people in.

Finally, they had put at least five people in that box. Then they managed to fill three more boxes. About twenty-one people were getting away tonight. Twenty-one would be taken into the safety of the Plumbers and Ben and Gwen's open-armed help.

The front door unlocked.

Both of them heard it immediately. Brittany had already jumped into an empty box and Kevin was quick to join her. He pulled the lid over the top just in time as the lights flipped on overhead and the fluorescent brightness shone through the cracks in the wood.

Argit didn't even notice that twenty-two people were missing from the walls.

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**A/N: wow. Hahaha. Hope you like Britania. Her name was the only one I recalled from my dream. There was one other girl, but I can't remember. And this is pretty much how most of it went. Except I was Kevin… anyways, hope you liked it! keep reading cuz the next chapter will be weird… review please!**

**~Sky**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: finally needed to get to writing another chapter of this. Just so I can get it finished up and start up on my 'Heroes' thing that'll get up soon. And vote on my poll if you haven't already. THANKS!**

**Disclaimer: do you think I'm MOA?**

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Argit was gone almost as quickly as he had come. The lights flickered out moments later. But only after Argit had nailed all the boxes closed and quickly pushed them outside for pick up the next morning.

"Well this is either a stroke of good luck or your worst nightmare," commented Kevin with a forced chuckle. He'd rather be locked in a room with the evil stepmother from Cinderella than stuck in a box with a freaking princess.

She opened her eyes wide and stared at him with a cold glare. "You didn't have to jump into the same box."

Not like she wasn't nice or anything. He just knew that he could kill the stepmother and sleep out the rest of the ride. Britania… You can't really kill a princess without getting away with it. It's too hard. Kevin took a couple of deep breaths. "What are your thoughts on this? Jump out or ride it out?"

"Ride it out. I have to stay with my people." Britania folded her arms across her chest and leaned against the side of the box.

Kevin sighed. He couldn't get out if she didn't get out. So it was going to be a long night. "Since we're going to be stuck in here-"

"You don't have to stay."

She was a little too sharp for his comfort. Kevin narrowed his eyes in her general direction. "You know what? This is my mission as much as it is yours. I'm helping because I can and I want to. Must we go over this again?"

"No."

Definitely going to be a long night…

It was only about fifteen minutes later when Kevin heard the chattering of teeth from the corner where Britania was sitting. He could feel the box shaking a bit as she quivered.

"You cold?" he asked, stretching out a bit more.

"It's warmer on Osmoa," she commented fiercely. He could hear her voice shaking even then.

"Come here."

Instead of arguing, the girl shifted a little closer to the dark teen that had helped her. "You're not so bad."

"Oh, today's a good day." He shrugged while giving a little snicker. "Now tomorrow might be a whole 'nother story." Kevin put his arm around her. It was his job to help these people. Including little stuck up snobby princesses. But, to be brutally honest, she wasn't all that horrible. And Kevin hated being honest. He really, _really_ hated it. Especially with Brittany.

"Why did you get dragged into this anyways?" she asked him, politely ignoring his crude humor.

"Argit and I are old pals." Kevin wanted to just leave it at that. He was done with Argit. He was trying to turn himself around. He didn't want to be too terrible anymore. The minor things weren't that bad, but the big heavy duty "lemme break somethin' for some cash" things were off limits now.

"How are you 'old pals' with someone like him?" asked Brittany, staring at him through the darkness. She could make out his dark ebony hair and his twinkling obsidian eyes. "He's a criminal."

"And I'm an ex-con." He hated saying it. He hated how the words came out sounding so evil and horrifying and making him seem like a bad person when he'd turned it all around and changed. He was trying to be a hero now. He was trying to make a difference here and now.

She gave him a questioning look although he couldn't see it. "I never would've guessed."

"Anyone who knows me would've. I still steal here and there and I break in on some pretty nasty deals, but I know where my limits stand." Kevin looked away as if something in the spiraling marks on the wood had caught his eye. He just didn't want to look at her and all her perfection. She didn't have to decide between the sides of right and wrong. She had just been born on the side of right. "This is even above my limits."

Britania sighed. "Well, we'll get them to safety. Don't worry too much. You're plan is almost fool-proof."

"Oh trust me, I know a guy who could screw it up in a heartbeat." A smirk played across Kevin's lips as he thought of Benji. "So this is far from fool-proof."

She grinned and put her head on his shoulder. It was going to be a long night. Might as well adapt to it. "How did we get stuck in this box again?" she asked, finding herself a bit lucky to be stuck with another Osmosian and one so helpful was just another bonus.

"You jumped in and I jumped in and then we got nailed in by a rat-faced idiot." Kevin rested his head against the side of the box. "My turn for a question."

"So this is an interrogation room now?"

"…maybe." Kevin snickered under his breath. "What's it like on Osmoa?"

She raised an eyebrow in his direction. "You're an Osmosian, but you've never been to Osmoa?" she questioned.

"Half Osmosian," he corrected, feeling his eyes shutting slowly. It had to be about midnight by now. "Half human." Kevin knew he wasn't going to be able to stay awake in a box all night. "My dad was a Plumber stationed here on Earth." The dark teen fought off a yawn.

"You sleep," she said, giving up on trying to keep him awake with incessant questioning. He was honest and true, no jokes. He was for real. He really was just trying to help. The fact of him being a Plumber and being an Osmosian now proved that and the face that he was telling the truth the whole time. She could read it in his eyes. "I'll keep watch."

"For what?" he chuckled. "The box to come to life and attack us?"

Britania shrugged. "Yeah. Sure. Just keep watch for anything, you know?"

Kevin smirked. He was tired, but he didn't want to leave her awake the whole night. He'd fight off the sleep as long as he could. "Whatever. So what's your favorite color?"

This was still going to be a very long night.

"Blue."

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**A/N: so five chapters. Sorry, I couldn't stretch this out further because in my dream it was longer, but for this, I just don't have the patience to write it right now. At least not the parts that were kinda dull. Anyways, next chapter will be last and longest. Thanks for reading!**

**~Sky**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I'm going to start finishing up some of my stuff. Such as this. I mean, one more chappie left, so I'm gonna finish this, start working deeper on another songfic series like 'Gwevin & Everything After' but in Gwen's POV… alrite, so time for this final chapter….**

**Disclaimer: wow. I don't own Ben 10. is that really a shocker to you?**

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Britania's eyes blinked open in the bright lights. The tendrils of weak and thin sunlight was filtering in from the cracks. She rubbed one fist across her eyelid to wipe the sleep from it before she realized the box was rocking impossibly hard. The girl's gaze whipped over to the dark ex-con that she had spent her time in the box with who was throwing all his weight against the wood in hopes to splinter it or at least knock it open enough to squeeze an arm out and search for a crow bar or something. She watched as he kept throwing himself at it rapidly, only to end up with splinters of wood stuck to his bare skin.

Kevin's breathing was rapid and almost frantic. He knew it was morning. He knew they were in the garage. He knew everyone in all the other boxes needed him to break them out as soon as possible. He shouldered his way against the wood. Splinters embedded themselves in his skin. His expression twisted into one of pain for only a moment before he went at it again.

"You're going to hurt yourself," said Brittany, working the best she could to stretch a bit before reaching over to touch his arm. Her eyes noticed one thing in the darkness. His shirt was gone. "Where's your shirt?" she asked softly.

He tossed his head in her direction without a word before throwing himself at the wood once again in another broken attempt to at least bend the wood. He was getting sore and tired and he hadn't slept all night. A box wasn't as comfortable as the backseat of his car or the bed in his room in his mother's garage.

The girl had to look down and found that she was wrapped up in his shirt. "Why'd you do that?" she asked in a near snarl, upset that someone like him had to take care of her.

His response was simple. "You were shivering. I took care of it." Kevin shifted a bit to look at his arm. It was covered in sharp splinters that were drawing blood from his skin and he bit his lip. It hurt a lot more when he saw it. When he ignored it, he didn't care. Kevin fought back a moan that was crawling up his throat.

"Seriously, stop." Her fingers touched his arm softly. "Just stop. You're going to hurt yourself."

"I've been hurt worse than this before," he said, voice cracking only a tiny bit from the pain. "I've been a monster most of my life and this is redemption for that. I'm helping the best that I can instead of killing." Kevin pulled out the worst splinters for a matter of seconds before shaking his head for a moment and throwing himself back at the wood for another round of trying to break out of it.

"Kevin, really, stop." She touched his arm again, this time trying to pull him away from the wood. Her voice was gentle but firm. "Just stop."

He paused. Then very slowly, he sat back against one side of the box and took in a few deep breaths, calming himself down slowly. He moved one hand over to touch his bloodied arm that was only getting worse as he kept trying. Kevin let his eyes fall shut. "We have to get out of here."

There were voices outside of the crate. "Listen, Ben, I swear I heard voices here like five minutes ago so if you could go Spidermonkey and rip one open just to check, that'd be great. And Kevin's not here, which worries me even more. Because if this is tech, we're going to burn it before he realizes it's here."

Kevin's obsidian orbs appeared once again. "GWEN!" he called as loudly as he could. He started pounding on the box with his fists instead of with his shoulder as it would only cause him more pain. "GWEN, IN HERE!"

The immediate clicking of heels on the concrete ground was followed by a green flash of light.

Kevin kept pounding, feeling the splinters pierce his flesh and he knew he was going to be sore for a while and it'd take some serious recovering in bed for a couple hours and at least a day's worth of sleep. He really needed to just relax, but he couldn't. Not when he was trapped. It was almost worse than being in the monster body that had confined him for so long.

The top was ripped off by two pairs of furry blue paws and was followed by a short laughing screech that was clearly Spidermonkey's familiar cry.

There was a small voice in the background that Kevin could only pick out as he was pulled from the box by the furry blue alien creature. "Kevin, oh my god, Kevin. What the heck happened to you? Why were you in a box? You're bleeding. Kevin, just stay still, alright? I'll go get something to clean you up with."

He felt himself on the couch in the garage. "Thanks, Benji."

A green flash of light appeared behind his eyelids. "Kevin, you're totally claustrophobic and don't deny it." Ben's footsteps headed for the table where Kevin assumed he was picking up his smoothie cup with the smiling face on the side of it.

There was the rustling of the box as Britania hauled herself out and vaulted over the edge of it. "Okay, that was insane," she muttered before looking around at all the other boxes that were around the garage. She knew the rest of the Osmosians were in there. The golden haired girl grabbed a crowbar off the nearby table and started pulled at the lids on them.

"Kevin, you brought back a hot chick. Think Gwen'll be mad?" Ben's voice betrayed the smirk that Kevin couldn't see.

"I love your cousin. Britania is the princess of Osmoa. There's no contest, Benji." Kevin blinked one eye open to look at his arm. It was stained in scarlet. He regretted looking.

The clicking of heels came back, signaling Gwen's return. A wet towel started wiping at his bloodied arm. "Kevin, you idiot."

"Thanks," he replied with a satisfied smile, glad that he could piss her off without even trying.

"And you brought back a dumb blonde," snorted Gwen, gaze not casting away from Kevin, but she had caught sight of the girl as she had rushed back to her beloved boyfriend. "Great. And why was your shirt off? Kevin, please don't tell me you-"

"Brit is the princess of Osmoa. I saved her and in the rest of the boxes are other Osmosians. They need more help than I do." Kevin managed to sit up on the couch with a whole lot of effort. He took the damp cloth from Gwen. "I'll take care of myself."

There was a solemn stare from Gwen, eyes glowing with pride. She slowly rose from her boyfriend's side and headed over to help the girl with the bleached blonde hair. They snapped one lid off of a crate. Inside were sleeping people, each looking so close to human that it was hard to tell that they weren't. But the older looking ones had horns protruding from their scalps. Instead of questioning this, Gwen just reached in and began to wake them gently from their slumber as Britania moved onto the next crate of people.

Ben's sneakers squeaked against the concrete as he went over to help these people. He looked back at Kevin for a mere moment as the dark teen winced in pain as he ripped another splinter from his arm. He watched his friend shudder in pain before wiping away more blood and continuing. And the brunette Tennyson moved on, going to help this alien race. They needed it. Much more than Kevin did.

A long period of time passed as Gwen healed the Osmosians as much as she could while Ben was still trying to pull some boxes apart. Britania was assuring the scared ones that they would be fine by comforting them as well as she could. Kevin sat there in his misery, trying to take care of his arm by pulling splinters and wiping away the blood. Once that was finished, he wrapped it up with some gauze from the first aid kit in his car and headed to help Ben rip more boxes apart. He looked over to his friend. "Ben, there's still more," he murmured, trying to keep Gwen from hearing, knowing that she would be upset if she knew how he'd found out about this.

"How many?" he asked, also keeping his voice low.

"About a hundred more." Kevin pried the top off, the wood almost shattering inside the box if he hadn't caught it from falling on the people inside. "Argit tried to cut me in on it. He didn't know that I'm one of them. He doesn't even know these ones are missing." He tossed the wood to the side in a pile that Ben had started. "He's trying to pay me back so we're fair. But it doesn't work when he cuts me in on things like this."

"You still know where this place is?" Ben reached one hand in and pulled out a small little girl that appeared to be about six or seven who was shaking and quivering. A quiet moan escaped her and she clung to the hero in the green jacket as if for dear life.

Kevin nodded quickly, his obsidian gaze flicking over to Gwen to be sure that she was still working instead of listening in. "I can take you and Brittany there tonight so we can raid the place and bring the last of them. And a couple of extra Plumbers can take them in a ship back to Osmoa."

"Why don't you want Gwen in on it?" asked Ben, holding the tiny child tightly to his chest, realizing that he could feel its ribcage and the frail bones in its arms. He watched as Kevin reached in to haul out the next child with the gentlest touch he had ever seen of the dark teen. Kevin had offered a hand out and pulled out a little boy who only seemed to be four or so. The little boy was sobbing uncontrollably and Kevin just hugged him and stroked his hair for a few moments until the mother had made her way out of the crate to take both children from the two boys and carry them towards Gwen.

"She'll know I was trying to make a deal with Argit. And we don't want her to know that, do we?"

Ben sighed. "Kevin, she knows you can't change as fast as she wants you to, but you can't totally cut her out on the deals. You can't lie to her. You don't want to lie to her either, I can tell. So just be honest and she'll be understanding. And if you hadn't tried to cut in on this deal, all these people would be dead in a matter of days." He reached a hand in and helped an elderly man from the box. "You just have to help her understand why you do these things, Kev."

He just nodded and continued to help. He would talk with the redhead later.

"One more box," noted Ben, knowing that Kevin wasn't going to talk much more. He grabbed for the crowbar that Britania had been using earlier to rip off the lid. People flooded out in a rush, all of them stronger than the ones in the last crates that had been pried open.

None of them wanted help except for one elderly woman with horns spiking from her long flowing silver hair. Kevin reached in to offer her help. Instead, she reached out and ran her fingers through his ebony hair until she smiled. The woman took his hand and let herself be pulled from the box. Afterwards, she blinked respectfully at him. "Bless you, hatchling." And the woman had slowly headed off in the direction of Gwen and Britania.

"Hatchling," snickered Ben.

"I'm considered as a hatchling to Osmosians. But this also means I'll live longer." Kevin flicked Ben's nose to annoy his friend before heading off towards Gwen and Brittany to discuss how they were going to raid Argit's torture camp.

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**A/N: just one more chapter of this, okay? I thought it'd be the last one, but nope. Sorry. Review!**

**~Sky**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I'm struggling these days. There's more fights around the house than there is humor… it kinda hurts… but I'm living. No panic. But don't be surprised if my stuff takes an angsty twist. I'm working to keep it the way it is for now, okay?**

**Disclaimer: own nothing at all.**

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Kevin crept along the back wall, Gwen standing close beside him. He could feel her breath on the back of his neck and he liked it, sighing with content until Gwen shushed him fiercely. He smiled, knowing he deserved it. "The window should be right along here."

She flipped open her phone. He could see a little light cast upon her face. "Ben says the Plumber ships are on the way."

"Good," he breathed before reaching up to find the lock on the window. He jimmied it open without another thought and slid it up before watching Gwen slide through the window frame. Quickly, he followed her, crashing to the ground just inside the window frame.

He watched as she fired off a text to Ben to say that they were inside. Then he looked around. The crates were still open around the window. He remembered well how he and Britania had stacked people inside them to save their lives. "Alright, Argit is somewhere on the upper level. Think you can get him down here while I get people down off the walls? I need to give him a piece of my mind."

Gwen nodded shortly before disappearing into the darkness, the color of violet and pink mana following her as she vanished.

Kevin rose to his feet and brushed off his jeans, watching the drop-dead gorgeous redhead disappear into the black shadows. Then he turned his attention back to the work at hand: saving these people.

Britania dropped in through the window. "Hey," she said softly to him, keeping her voice low. "Need some help?"

"Course." He absorbed the matter from one of the crystals from the crates before grabbing another and tossing it to her. "Gwen's already upstairs working on finding our favorite rat-face as we speak." Kevin headed over to the wall. This time, there was no noise from the people. He reached for the shackles and quickly broke them, crushing the metal in his hands effortlessly. The man he'd just freed dropped to the ground with a moan, which only led Kevin to sigh with relief. He wasn't too late yet.

The silvery blonde haired girl took the piece of heavy stone and let it cover her body with a sleek, almost black colored armor. She began on the other side of the window, cracking the bonds that held her people to the wall and catching them with the other arm.

Kevin had a bit less grace with it.

There was a thud in the middle of the room and a pink orb lit the entire space in a deep violet light. Gwen came down on her mana platform, floating down with her hair splaying out behind her. "Argit, you really ought to think about a better hiding place that Kevin _can't_ track." She rolled her eyes. "Rat-faced dweeb."

With a smirk, Kevin remembered once again why he had fallen for Gwen. The redheaded, attitude-loaded Gwen Tennyson. He rolled his eyes in the darkness.

Ben pushed open the front doors with his grand entrance. "Gwen, that's totally my name."

The emerald-eyed girl stared at him. "No, you're just 'The Dweeb'."

The brunette Tennyson glared at her before shaking off her mean words and focusing on Argit. "Okay, down to business-"

"You're ruining my business!" hollered Argit, staring up at Ben and Gwen, yellow eyes wide and filled with pure fear of the two. "I'm trying to be a good law abiding citizen here! Can't you hero people respect tha-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Kevin was already hanging over him like a dark cloud in the nearly black room illuminated only by violet light. "You can't hurt people for money. This isn't a business and these aren't your workers. This is a freaking slaughter house, Argit."

The con's eyes narrowed. "It's my business," he growled, voice low.

Less than a second later, Kevin's fist made impact with the rat's face. Over and over and over again. He wasn't going to let Argit get away easy this time. Too many times had Argit left him hanging. Too many times had Argit left him hurting. Too many times. Kevin wasn't going to be the one taking the beatings anymore for these mistakes. He wasn't letting Argit get away this time. Not again.

After about five or six more vicious hits, Ben and Gwen were finally able to pull him off of Argit and let the criminal get a few feet away before Ben released Kevin. Then Gwen held his arm to keep him from going any further. He didn't struggle against her but she could tell that her touch was the only thing that kept him from charging at Argit again and trying to pummel his brains out once more. The redhead leaned in close to him and made sure he knew she was there beside him.

Kevin fought his urge to charge at Argit again. His fists clenched until his nails dug into his palms, drawing blood. He felt it run over his fingers.

"I'm paying you back," hissed Argit, rising to his full height again, yellow eyes narrowed in Kevin's direction as he dusted off his jacket.

"You're killing people," snarled Kevin, trying to take a step towards Argit, only to be held back by Gwen's gentle grip. "You could've just been fair and let it go or actually done something that's legal, but killing is just wrong." He started straining against Gwen, who just tightened her grip on him, emerald eyes becoming more worried.

"Look who's talking," growled Argit. "I heard about Ragnarok."

Kevin pulled against Gwen's restraining grip more, face twisted into a snarl. His obsidian eyes blazed with unbridled fury and his palms were stained red. "Shut. Up."

The redhead wasn't going to watch this any longer. "Ben, can you take Argit to his Plumber escort to the Null Void?" Honestly, she was just losing control over Kevin. She wasn't sure how long she could hold him back. She wasn't sure if she wanted to hold him back anymore. She stared at some of the sick and dying people that Britania was releasing that were almost crawling through the doors to escape. Argit definitely deserved whatever Kevin was going to do to him. And he deserved all that Kevin was going to give him.

Grabbing Argit, the bearer of the Ultimatrix pulled up the criminal and hauled him out the doors, Osmosians still crawling to safety. Ben dragged Argit to the ship that had the Null Void projector on board. He tossed the rat into the mouth of the ship and watched it close before heading back to see how things were going with helping everyone inside.

Kevin was wiping his hands off on his shirt, leaving stains of scarlet on the dark black cloth. He let out a low guttural snarl before taking a few breaths and focusing on the people he had to help. Argit was getting what was coming to him, no worries about that. It still didn't stop Kevin from wanting to destroy the rat with his bare fists, pounding him until he couldn't breathe, until he couldn't see, until he couldn't live.

"Come on," murmured Gwen to her boyfriend, carefully wrapping her arm around him. "It's fine." She steered him in the direction of the other people. She caught Brit looking back at them, eyes sparkling a bit with the worry. Gwen sighed and let Kevin head over towards the wall to recuperate. She could see in his eyes that he desperately needed it. "You're good, Kevin."

The corner of his lips turned up and he looked at her. "I love you, Gwen." Kevin stared at her, dark eyes glittering softly. "I mean it. I do." He grinned at her, almost sadly.

The redhead sighed and closed her eyes. She leaned against him for a moment and smiled. "Love you too, Kev." She hugged him for a long moment before heading in the direction of the other Osmosians, going to help them, knowing that Kevin had done all he could before he needed to rest for a little bit. It'd all be better in time.

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**A/N: I struggled. This is the last chappie. I'm not going any further because you all get the point that they were all saved and so on so forth. I know this was probably a downer from every other chapter, but I do the best I can. I didn't know what else to do without it being horrible. I can't do fights and I didn't wanna write like a bajillion ppl going to a ship and then flying off because you'd be bored reading it and I'd be bored writing it. Sorry. Hope you enjoyed it tho! Thx for reading! Review!**

**~Sky**


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